You know yard sale season has arrived when the shelves of thrift stores start getting a bit empty. Last Saturday all the glassware was clear, all the dishes were boring, and even my favorite store with its perpetual Saturday-40%-off-bric-a-brac sale was a dud. Total dud. How is that even possible?

So I hit all the off-the-beaten-track stores run by hospitals, nonprofits and nuns. They’re the only local stores that carry old sewing stuff–fabric, notions, patterns. That’s where I found an assortment of little goodies.

A rainbow of vintage trims. Fancy some pink piping on a pillow? Kelly rick rack on an apron? So many possibilities!

At this stop the woman at the checkout in front of me had three laundry baskets full of toys. Expensive toys. The nun asked if she ran a day care. Nope. She was buying them all for her cockatoo! I wanted to see her house so bad. Can’t you just imagine mountains of plastic stuff with a bored bird perched on top?

Loved the color on this ladder (which I didn’t buy). I think I’ll steal the idea, though.

Yesterday ManRay and I did a marathon of shopping starting at the Golden Nugget Flea Market in Lambertville NJ. I haven’t been there since last summer and was surprised by how much the market has changed. At one time it was considered the preeminent antiques market on the East Coast.